Australian Story

TV News and Current Affairs ABC and SBS News
406

Betrayal | Hannah Grundy

Monday October 14, 8:00pm

Introduced by Australian Story presenter Leigh Sales

When high school teacher Hannah Grundy clicked on a suspicious-looking email three years ago she had no idea where it would lead or the impact it would have on her life.

She saw dozens of shocking images, digitally altered to superimpose her face on naked women’s bodies, and row upon row of text describing ways to harm her.

Through a process of elimination Hannah discovered who was behind the sickening cybercrime.

It was a betrayal close to home.

What followed was an epic fight for justice and a dramatic court showdown.

Airs Monday October 14, 8:00pm (AEDT), on ABC TV and ABC iview.

Promo

407

The Two of Us | Yael Stone + Jack Manning Bancroft

image
image1920×1192 194 KB

Monday October 21, 8:00pm

With a starring role in hit TV show Orange Is the New Black, Australian actor Yael Stone had a green card and Hollywood at her feet.

“It’s a passport to so much opportunity. She could have done anything at that point, for sure,” Orange co-star Uzo Aduba says.

But then she very publicly and dramatically declared she would tear it up.

“I thought, wow, that’s a very bold statement. Did she need to say it so publicly? Because maybe she’ll just want to go back on that,” friend and actor Claudia Karvan says.

While some thought it was self-sabotage, the one person who immediately backed her was childhood schoolmate-turned-partner Jack Manning Bancroft.

The pair first met as five-year-olds, but a chance encounter 25 years later blossomed into a partnership of purpose.

“I’ve never felt like an idea was too big with Yael. And I never felt crazy, I think that’s probably the magic that unites us as a couple,” Jack Manning Bancroft says.

Jack is no stranger to risking everything – in his role as CEO of Indigenous not-for-profit AIME, he pushed himself to the point of hospitalisation trying to expand globally.

“He collapsed at an event … and it was like, 'Oh my God, is my son going to actually die here?’,” says Jack’s mother, artist Bronwyn Bancroft.

The dynamic pair now juggle parenting two young daughters while pursuing separate passion projects – Yael working in climate change and Jack further expanding AIME’s purpose – but with a shared mission to make the world a better place.

Australian Story | The Two of Us: Yael Stone and Jack Manning Bancroft will air on Monday 21 October at 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.

Producer: Winsome Denyer.

Promo

408

The Big Lap | Remembering Fiona MacDonald

Monday October 28, 8:00pm

In memory of much-loved TV personality Fiona MacDonald, Australian Story revisits her 2023 episode, which followed her and her sister Kylie’s “Thelma and Louise”-style road trip around Australia to raise awareness of motor neurone disease.

Fiona had been diagnosed with the disease in 2021, at the age of 64, and had been advised not to make the trip but she was determined to make the most of her time left.

When Fiona died earlier this month, her sister Kylie posted a final message from Fiona on Instagram, which ended with the words, “I carry your love and laughter with me and hope you’ll remember mine.” This encore screening is in honour of that memory.

Airs Monday October 28, 8:00pm (AEDT), on ABCTV and ABC iview.

> Promo

409

Holding Ground | Chris Henggeler

Monday November 4 8:00pm

In one of the toughest parts of Australia, a barefoot grazier is running a bold regenerative experiment that might land him in jail.

For the past three decades Chris Henggeler has dedicated his life to transforming an eroding, desolate, fire-prone property in the Kimberley into an oasis of green paddocks and fresh running water.

A secret of his success – feral donkeys.

“We’re using animals as a landscape management tool to mulch, fertilise and prune the vegetation, build soils, rehydrate the landscapes,” Chris Henggeler says.

Despite the support of ecologists and a local Indigenous resident, the pastoralist has found himself on the wrong side of the law.

The WA government has deemed the feral donkeys a pest and Chris is defying an order to shoot them. A court battle is days away.

Despite the property never turning a profit, and a lack of creature comforts, Chris’s longsuffering family supports his grand land care passion.

“If someone had said, do you know that you’re going to be spending seven odd years thinking about how to keep a few donkeys alive, I would have laughed at the idea,” son Bobby Henggeler says.

Chris says he will go to jail before shooting the donkeys.

“If the science is not on my side, I deserve to be locked up. And if the science is on my side, well, I deserve an apology,” Chris Henggeler says.

410

Comeback | Shayna Jack

Monday November 11, 8:00pm

Introduced by presenter Leigh Sales

When swimmer Shayna Jack tested positive to a banned substance five years ago, her world imploded.

Branded a drug cheat, she was expelled from swimming and forced to defend herself at not one, but two hearings against world anti-doping authorities.

Shayna was ultimately cleared of intentional doping but after two years away from the pool, could she make a comeback?

At the 2024 Olympics, her vindication was complete.

Airs Monday November 11, 8:00pm (AEDT), on ABCTV and ABC iview.

Promo

2 Likes
411

Australian Story has entered repeat mode now.

Monday 18 November 8:00 PM

1 Like
412

The repeat of Elly-May Barnes episode has been timed to coincide with the debut of her show Headliners the following night.

413

Growing Pains

Monday 25 November 8:00 PM

Nathan Cavaleri was seven years old when he found international fame as a prodigy on the blues guitar. In 2020 at age 38, he spoke about the childhood stardom that both inspired and haunted him.

414

Letting Loose | Kathy Lette

Monday 2 Decmeber 8:00 PM

Introduced by Kylie Minogue

When Kathy Lette co-wrote Puberty Blues in her late teens, she became known in Australia as the voice of youth, a label she struggled to shake even as she approached her 30s.

But when she left husband Kim Williams for Geoffrey Robertson and moved to London, she found her voice. In a succession of best-selling novels, she has lightly fictionalised the various stages of her life, including marriage, motherhood and divorce.

Now 63, Lette is determined to age disgracefully and believes post-menopause is the best time in a woman’s life. She talks about her long and successful career, her relationships and the pride she takes in the achievements of her autistic son Jules, who is carving out a successful acting career.

Repeat

415

The ABC Ombudsman found a digital article that was published with the episode did not breach the ABC’s editorial standards for accuracy. There were four complaints against the article.

416

Monday 3 February 8:00 pm

image
image613×409 51.2 KB

The Logie Award-winning Australian Story returns. Join us as Leigh Sales presents extraordinary stories about real people that illuminate, entertain, and inspire. This season, in addition to our usual mix of compelling human interest and true crime stories, we delve into the lives of actor and social media sensation Celeste Barber, comedian Dave Hughes, maverick politician Bob Katter and look back at the curious story of 1980s long-distance runner Cliff Young.

Production credit: An ABC NEWS production. Executive Producer, Caitlin Shea.

417

Unfiltered | Celeste Barber

image
image1018×607 52 KB

Monday 3 February 8:00 PM

Series return

Introduced by Australian Story presenter Leigh Sales

Celeste Barber has amassed a global fanbase of 9.6 million for her parodies of celebrities and influencers on social media, where she reminds women not to buy into unattainable beauty standards.

But while humour has been key to her phenomenal rise, Celeste’s own story is one of struggle and self-doubt.

Her formative years were damaged by undiagnosed ADHD, resulting in Celeste being badly bullied in her early teens. While her neurodiversity was the genesis of her stage and screen success, it remains an ongoing battle for the celebrated performer.

Airs Monday February 3, 8:00pm (AEDT), on ABCTV, ABC iview and YouTube.

Promo

418

Next Monday’s episode will be Outspoken, featuring Jacinta Nampijinpa Price

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is both loved and loathed - a rising star in Coalition ranks accused of betraying the hopes of Indigenous Australians. She reveals the deeply personal experiences that shaped her political views.

419

Outspoken – Jacinta Nampijinpa Price

Monday 10 February, 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview

600x337

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is popular, polarising and outspoken – a rising star in Coalition ranks who helped steer the ‘No’ campaign to victory in the Voice referendum.

“There are some people that I’ve grown up with in my hometown that almost feel like I’ve betrayed them because I’ve become a conservative Aboriginal politician,” she tells Australian Story. “It’s almost like, 'How dare you.’”

Within the Indigenous community, some critics feel betrayed by her controversial comments about colonisation, culture and violence.

Mick Gooda, a former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner, believes the ‘No’ campaign “has given people permission to be openly racist, to attack the things that we’ve made so much advances on".

Her Indigenous supporters, however, say she’s brave and bold.

“I really did see the bravery of what she was taking on,” academic and friend Suzanne Ingram tells Australian Story.

In this episode Senator Nampijinpa Price, a former singer and children’s television presenter, responds to her critics and speaks for the first time about turning to alcohol and drugs after surviving domestic violence.

“I was partying hard, hitting the ecstasy or the MDMA,” she says, “but then the comedowns were massive, and that cycle got me into a state of depression, self-loathing and anxiety – all those things, suicidal thought.’’

She explains how her family’s experiences of violence helped shape her views and outlines her plans should she become Minister for Indigenous Australians in the event of a Coalition victory at the next election.

“The one thing that drives me more than anything else is the fact that I’ve lost so much family. I think it’s time for a change; a change of thinking and a change of approach."

420

Very interesting. I might give this a watch as the trailer for this one might make me change my perception of her ever so slightly.

421
422

I’m interested to see how Sky covers this the following day - will they call it a “typical ABC pre-election hitjob” or something like that, even though everything points to this episode portraying Jacinta in a positive light, more so than anything Sky has ever done?

423

Heartfelt

Monday 17 February, 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview

600x400

Everyone loves a love story and in this classic Australian Story there’s not one, but three – all intertwined in the most unusual ways. It’s an insightful reflection on grief and love that ponders the thorny question, when is an appropriate time to re-partner after loss?

Col and Laura both lost their cherished spouses to sudden cardiac arrest. Consumed by grief, neither was looking for love. But after a chance encounter in an online group for young widows and widowers, one thing led to another.

“I could probably loosely categorise the responses into three groups,” says Col, whose wife Sheree died nine months before he met Laura. “Those that are just full of support, really happy to see us happy again. Then there’s probably those that are really judgemental, don’t want to know about it. And then there’s a group that are somewhere in the middle that probably don’t understand it, particularly the timeline, but are smart enough not to say anything.”

Col’s new partner Laura discovered she that she was pregnant days after the death of her husband Stuart.

She and Col have found that love for their late spouses can coexist with their new love for each other.

“Even now, four years after Stuart’s died, I still feel I’m married to Stuart. I still wear my wedding ring, and I’ve got Stuart’s wedding band as well,” says Laura. “I will never stop loving Stuart. And Col is completely fine with that because I understand that he will always love Sheree”.

And now, together as a new couple, there’s another surprise in store.

424
425

Second Innings- Bharat Sundaresan

Monday, February 24, 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview

600x337

From his colourful outfits to his incisive writing, Bharat Sundaresan has taken the Australian cricket world by storm.

But this sense of belonging has been a lifetime in the making.

Born and raised in India, Bharat grew up unable to express himself, desperate for affection and punished for standing out.

When forced to conform, Bharat spiralled into addiction. Cricket saved his life.

“All I remember thinking is, that’s it, I’m going to die a loser. But rather than like give up, I said, no, I can’t do that. And I thought of cricket. I said, I want another chance,” Bharat says.

His reporting on the sport has seen him internationally renowned with millions of followers, but it’s in Australia that he’s building a stunning second innings.

Bharat and his wife Isha risked their careers, marriage and finances to give life down under a go. He’s gained universal respect.

Test captain, Pat Cummins, says having the Indian-born journalist in Australia’s traditional cricket scene has been refreshing.

“I’ve been following cricket my whole life. I’m ready for some different insights rather than the same old, approaches. So more like Bharat the better,” Cummins says.

Cricket Et Al podcaster Pete Lalor says Bharat has exploded Australian cricket’s ‘pale, male and stale’ stereotype.

“It’s come a long way from Richie Benaud in the beige jacket to Bharat Sundaresan in whatever it is he’s wearing today,” Lalor says.

With his technicolour outfits and long hair, Bharat Sundaresan has finally found where he belongs.